The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare for the District of Columbia and other major cities that public transit was a lifeline for essential staff and that even modest fares could possibly be a burden to them. So the nation’s capital is introducing a groundbreaking plan: It should begin offering free bus fares to residents next summer.
Other cities, including Los Angeles and Kansas City, Missouri, suspended fare collection in the course of the height of the pandemic to reduce human contact and make sure that residents with no other travel options could reach jobs and services at hospitals, grocery stores and offices.
But D.C.‘s everlasting free fare plan will likely be by far the most important, coming at a time when major cities including Boston and Denver and states akin to Connecticut are considering broader zero-fare policies to enhance equity and help regain ridership that was lost with the rise of distant and hybrid work. Los Angeles instituted free fares in 2020 before recently resuming charging riders. Currently LA Metro has been testing a fare-capping plan under which transit riders pay for trips until they hit a set dollar amount after which ride free after that, though latest Mayor Karen Bass has suggested support for permanently abolishing the fares.
Analysts say D.C.’s free fare system offers a very good test case on how public transit could be reshaped for a post-pandemic future.
“If D.C. demonstrates that it increases ridership, it reduces the associated fee burden for people who find themselves lower income and it improves the standard of transit service by way of speed of bus service, and reduces cars on the road, this could possibly be a roaring success,” said Yonah Freemark, a senior research associate on the Urban Institute. “We just don’t know yet whether that will occur.”
The $2 fares will likely be waived for riders boarding Metrobuses throughout the city limits starting around July 1. In unanimously approving the plan last week, the D.C. Council also agreed to expand bus service to 24 hours on 12 major routes downtown, benefiting nightlife and repair staff who typically needed to depend on costly ride-share to get home after the Metro subway and bus system closed at night.
A latest $10 million fund dedicated to annual investments in D.C. bus lanes, shelters and other improvements was also approved to make rides faster and more reliable.
“The District is able to be a national leader in the longer term of public transit,” said D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, who first proposed free fares in 2019 and says this system could be fully paid-for with surplus D.C. tax revenue. Roughly 85% of bus riders are D.C. residents. The Metro system also serves neighboring suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.
About 68% of D.C. residents who take the bus have household incomes below $50,000, and riders are disproportionately Black and Latino compared with Metrorail passengers, in accordance with the council’s budget evaluation.
Not everyone seems to be a fan.
Peter Van Doren, a senior fellow on the D.C.-based Cato Institute, said the plan risks high costs and mixed results, noting that the chance to enhance ridership could also be limited because bus passengers have been quicker to return to close pre-pandemic levels. He said government subsidies to assist lower-income people buy cars would go farther because not everyone has easy accessibility to public transit, which operates on fixed routes.
“The fantastic thing about automobiles is they’ll go anywhere and in all places in a way that transit doesn’t,” he said. “We don’t know the subset of low-income people in D.C. where transit is a superb option versus not such a beautiful option.”
The council’s move, which will likely be finalized in a second vote later this month, got here over the concerns of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who supports the concept of free fares but raised questions on the $42 million annual cost over the long run. “District residents and taxpayers may have to pay for this program,” she wrote in a letter to council members. “Our neighbors, Virginia and Maryland, should absorb a few of these costs as their residents will profit from this program as well.”
Allen also had proposed a $100 monthly transit profit for D.C. residents to access the Metrorail system, but shelved the plan until no less than fall 2024 as a result of the $150 million annual estimated cost. He described free bus fares as a “win-win-win” for the District because they’ll help the transit system get well and offer inexpensive, green-friendly travel while boosting economic activity downtown.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which currently faces a budget deficit of $185 million, a part of which it attributes to fare evasion, praised the plan as “daring.” It said it looked forward to working with town council, mayor and regional stakeholders “toward our goal of providing more accessible and equitable service for our customers.”
Nationwide, while transit ridership has returned to about 79% of pre-pandemic levels, that figure varies widely by region. In Latest York City, as an illustration, MTA chief executive Janno Lieber has suggested that city and state governments step as much as pay for trains and buses more like essential public services, akin to a fireplace department, citing thousands and thousands of transit riders he believes may never come back. In 2019, fares made up over 40% of total transit revenue there but have since slid to 25%, resulting in an anticipated $2.5 billion deficit in 2025 together with the danger of soon using up the transportation authority’s federal COVID relief funds.
In D.C., where bus fares amount to a modest 7% of total transit operating revenues, the transit agency may find a way to more easily absorb losses from zero fares, said Art Guzzetti, the American Public Transportation Association’s vp of mobility initiatives and public policy. He noted savings for city taxpayers from speeding up boarding, which could allow for more routes and stops, in addition to reducing traffic congestion and eliminating the necessity for transit enforcement against fare evaders.
Currently, D.C. bus ridership stands at about 74% of pre-pandemic levels on weekdays in comparison with 40% for Metrorail.
Still, free fares could be a tough alternative for cities. “If the consequence of a zero-fare program is you could have less funds to take a position in frequent service, then you definately’re going backwards,” Guzzetti said.
In Kansas City, which began offering zero-fares for its buses in March 2020 and has no planned end date, officials said this system has helped boost ridership, which has risen by 13% in 2022 to date compared with the previous 12 months. The free fares amount to an $8 million revenue loss, with town paying for greater than half of that and federal COVID aid covering the remaining through 2023, said Cindy Baker, interim vp for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, who describes this system as a hit.
This system has eliminated altercations between passengers and bus drivers over fares, although there have been more instances of passenger disputes as a result of a rise in homeless riders, in accordance with the agency. Baker said the transit agency has been adding security in response to some rider complaints.
Ché Ruddell-Tabisola, director of presidency affairs for the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, cheered free fares as a much-needed economic boost, showing D.C.’s commitment to the well-being of late-night bartenders and restaurant staff needing an inexpensive way home.
“Lots of industries have moved on from the pandemic, but for D.C.’s bars and restaurants, the pandemic remains to be happening on a regular basis,” he said, citing the consequences of hybrid work, inflation, gun violence and other aspects which have hollowed out the downtown. “Anything that helps encourage diners to get to downtown D.C. and revel in the world-class dining and entertainment we now have is an incredible thing.”
The COVID-19 pandemic laid bare for the District of Columbia and other major cities that public transit was a lifeline for essential staff and that even modest fares could possibly be a burden to them. So the nation’s capital is introducing a groundbreaking plan: It should begin offering free bus fares to residents next summer.
Other cities, including Los Angeles and Kansas City, Missouri, suspended fare collection in the course of the height of the pandemic to reduce human contact and make sure that residents with no other travel options could reach jobs and services at hospitals, grocery stores and offices.
But D.C.‘s everlasting free fare plan will likely be by far the most important, coming at a time when major cities including Boston and Denver and states akin to Connecticut are considering broader zero-fare policies to enhance equity and help regain ridership that was lost with the rise of distant and hybrid work. Los Angeles instituted free fares in 2020 before recently resuming charging riders. Currently LA Metro has been testing a fare-capping plan under which transit riders pay for trips until they hit a set dollar amount after which ride free after that, though latest Mayor Karen Bass has suggested support for permanently abolishing the fares.
Analysts say D.C.’s free fare system offers a very good test case on how public transit could be reshaped for a post-pandemic future.
“If D.C. demonstrates that it increases ridership, it reduces the associated fee burden for people who find themselves lower income and it improves the standard of transit service by way of speed of bus service, and reduces cars on the road, this could possibly be a roaring success,” said Yonah Freemark, a senior research associate on the Urban Institute. “We just don’t know yet whether that will occur.”
The $2 fares will likely be waived for riders boarding Metrobuses throughout the city limits starting around July 1. In unanimously approving the plan last week, the D.C. Council also agreed to expand bus service to 24 hours on 12 major routes downtown, benefiting nightlife and repair staff who typically needed to depend on costly ride-share to get home after the Metro subway and bus system closed at night.
A latest $10 million fund dedicated to annual investments in D.C. bus lanes, shelters and other improvements was also approved to make rides faster and more reliable.
“The District is able to be a national leader in the longer term of public transit,” said D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen, who first proposed free fares in 2019 and says this system could be fully paid-for with surplus D.C. tax revenue. Roughly 85% of bus riders are D.C. residents. The Metro system also serves neighboring suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.
About 68% of D.C. residents who take the bus have household incomes below $50,000, and riders are disproportionately Black and Latino compared with Metrorail passengers, in accordance with the council’s budget evaluation.
Not everyone seems to be a fan.
Peter Van Doren, a senior fellow on the D.C.-based Cato Institute, said the plan risks high costs and mixed results, noting that the chance to enhance ridership could also be limited because bus passengers have been quicker to return to close pre-pandemic levels. He said government subsidies to assist lower-income people buy cars would go farther because not everyone has easy accessibility to public transit, which operates on fixed routes.
“The fantastic thing about automobiles is they’ll go anywhere and in all places in a way that transit doesn’t,” he said. “We don’t know the subset of low-income people in D.C. where transit is a superb option versus not such a beautiful option.”
The council’s move, which will likely be finalized in a second vote later this month, got here over the concerns of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who supports the concept of free fares but raised questions on the $42 million annual cost over the long run. “District residents and taxpayers may have to pay for this program,” she wrote in a letter to council members. “Our neighbors, Virginia and Maryland, should absorb a few of these costs as their residents will profit from this program as well.”
Allen also had proposed a $100 monthly transit profit for D.C. residents to access the Metrorail system, but shelved the plan until no less than fall 2024 as a result of the $150 million annual estimated cost. He described free bus fares as a “win-win-win” for the District because they’ll help the transit system get well and offer inexpensive, green-friendly travel while boosting economic activity downtown.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, which currently faces a budget deficit of $185 million, a part of which it attributes to fare evasion, praised the plan as “daring.” It said it looked forward to working with town council, mayor and regional stakeholders “toward our goal of providing more accessible and equitable service for our customers.”
Nationwide, while transit ridership has returned to about 79% of pre-pandemic levels, that figure varies widely by region. In Latest York City, as an illustration, MTA chief executive Janno Lieber has suggested that city and state governments step as much as pay for trains and buses more like essential public services, akin to a fireplace department, citing thousands and thousands of transit riders he believes may never come back. In 2019, fares made up over 40% of total transit revenue there but have since slid to 25%, resulting in an anticipated $2.5 billion deficit in 2025 together with the danger of soon using up the transportation authority’s federal COVID relief funds.
In D.C., where bus fares amount to a modest 7% of total transit operating revenues, the transit agency may find a way to more easily absorb losses from zero fares, said Art Guzzetti, the American Public Transportation Association’s vp of mobility initiatives and public policy. He noted savings for city taxpayers from speeding up boarding, which could allow for more routes and stops, in addition to reducing traffic congestion and eliminating the necessity for transit enforcement against fare evaders.
Currently, D.C. bus ridership stands at about 74% of pre-pandemic levels on weekdays in comparison with 40% for Metrorail.
Still, free fares could be a tough alternative for cities. “If the consequence of a zero-fare program is you could have less funds to take a position in frequent service, then you definately’re going backwards,” Guzzetti said.
In Kansas City, which began offering zero-fares for its buses in March 2020 and has no planned end date, officials said this system has helped boost ridership, which has risen by 13% in 2022 to date compared with the previous 12 months. The free fares amount to an $8 million revenue loss, with town paying for greater than half of that and federal COVID aid covering the remaining through 2023, said Cindy Baker, interim vp for the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, who describes this system as a hit.
This system has eliminated altercations between passengers and bus drivers over fares, although there have been more instances of passenger disputes as a result of a rise in homeless riders, in accordance with the agency. Baker said the transit agency has been adding security in response to some rider complaints.
Ché Ruddell-Tabisola, director of presidency affairs for the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, cheered free fares as a much-needed economic boost, showing D.C.’s commitment to the well-being of late-night bartenders and restaurant staff needing an inexpensive way home.
“Lots of industries have moved on from the pandemic, but for D.C.’s bars and restaurants, the pandemic remains to be happening on a regular basis,” he said, citing the consequences of hybrid work, inflation, gun violence and other aspects which have hollowed out the downtown. “Anything that helps encourage diners to get to downtown D.C. and revel in the world-class dining and entertainment we now have is an incredible thing.”
